Illumination

Almost instantly she was blinded by the brightness of the room. Illumination torches were stacked everywhere, shedding their light into every corner and under every bush. Trees reached their branches up to the top of the cavern, which looked to be about fifty feet tall. This realization shocked Jack, who hadn’t realized how deep they’d gone into the ground.

“Dad? Hello?” she called, just loud enough for it to reach the end of the room.

A deep, male voice called back, “Over here!” Jack and the others, who’d come in with her, headed in the direction of the voice, pushing through the tangled brush hastily.

They came out into a clearing and Jack saw her father lying on the ground, encased in a thick, sticky web that wrapped around his arms and legs. It looked just like a giant net. The five of them ran up to him and bent down to work at the web ensnaring him.

Jack’s father rolled over and groaned as they unraveled it. He opened his warm, chocolate-brown eyes and blinked at them before recognition dawned on his face. “H-how did you find me?”

“We followed your call,” Liam said, his brow furrowed.

“What call? I didn’t say anything,” the other returned.

Jack’s breath caught in her throat. “But then…” she began, but she didn’t need to finish. The others were already standing up and shouldering their weapons, glancing around suspiciously.

“Who’s there?” Bailey called, swiveling around. “Come out or I’ll shoot!” She cocked her gun to prove the point.

There was a rustle from behind a bush and a tiny solfect skittered out, the size of a small dog. It clicked its pincers together in a non-threatening manner and lolled out its long, milky tongue playfully. A second later, the bushes rustled again. This time, the figure emerging from the shadows was much taller.

“Ben?!” Jack stepped back protectively, arm extended as if to shield her father’s body. “Get away from him.”

“Jack, it’s not my fault,” he rasped, his breaths rattling loudly in his chest. Ben was in human form now, but something about him had changed. “It’s this infernal Sun dust in my eyes!” He pawed helplessly at his face, which was streaming rivulets of hot, white goo that left red tracks on his cheeks. “I can’t control it!” He swore loudly and Sierra flinched.

“Leave us alone,” Bailey threatened, levelling her gun at the boy’s chest. “I won’t hesitate to fire unless you let their father go.” She pointed at Jack, Robin, and Sierra almost dismissively.

“I don’t want him, you can—” Ben started before doubling over as more goo dripped from his eyes. Is it...controlling him?! “Run, before it’s too late. I am the alpha, and now is the time to rally my people.”

“Ben, snap out of it!” Maybe it’s on purpose, Jack thought nervously. Either way, I don’t like this. “You betrayed us! Now let us go.”

“Never!” Ben crouched down and limbs began to sprout from his sides as he transformed into a solfect. Jack’s father let out a muffled cry as the half-human, half-alpha solfect lunged towards him on six, still-forming limbs.

Jack screamed and closed her eyes, ready for what was once Ben to tear into her and her friends. Then there was a loud bang as Bailey’s gun went off. White fire shot out at the alpha, who was knocked back by the blast and sent flying into the bushes. “Come on, let’s get him out of here!” Bailey cried, dropping the smoking gun and ripping off another layer of the web.

Jack bent down to help her but was knocked down by the smaller solfect, who leapt onto her chest and pinned her down. She looked up into the creature’s face, searching for eyes, but couldn’t find any and was forced to stare at its drooping tongue. Jack summoned up all her courage and lashed out with her free arm, smacking the solfect off of her and jumping back up.

There was a crashing in the bushes and the alpha came barreling out of the forest, now fully transformed except for a patch of crimson hair on the top of its head. The monster shrieked and the sound seemed to echo throughout the entire simulation room, bouncing back and forth. Bailey picked up her gun and fired again, but missed by a few inches. “Move, move, move!”

The alpha lowered its head and charged right at her, followed by the tiny solfect. The group tried to scatter, but they weren’t fast enough. Jack was thrown across the clearing and into a tree, which felt disturbingly real as her spine cracked up against the trunk. She raised her head just in time to see the alpha bear down on her and pick her up in its front pincers. It stood on its hind legs and hissed, holding her just off the ground. I’m going to die here, Jack thought, letting her body go limp and turning her head away.

But instead, all it did was pin her up against the tree and grumble in a distorted voice, “If you really want to prove that you’re not your mother’s daughter, then you can do it yourself. Remember the pillars. Go to 186.” Before these words could strike a chord with Jack, the alpha slammed her into the ground, sending her vision spinning into black.

Remember the pillars. Go to 186…

***

Jack was surrounded by water all around her, cold and punishing. It whirled around her in a froth of bubbles and forced her deeper into darkness. She opened her mouth to scream and water rushed in, twisting around her heart and clenching tight like a fist. It didn’t hurt to drown, but she felt a desperate need to get out of the water, more than anything.

Jack thrashed around in panic, looking for a hint of light to swim towards, but all she could find was an even blacker shadow coming towards her. This shadow had many limbs, all of them reaching for her. The claws wrapped around her in a tight embrace as the solfect pulled her towards it. Its face twisted until it morphed into that of her father—her real father. His greying hair floated about in the water wildly. His glasses were suspended next to him, the lenses cracked slightly from when Jack’s mother had slapped him. She remembered that day well.

“What do you want?” Jack demanded, struggling against his grasp. Her head still ached terribly from the blow that the alpha had delivered.

“I miss you,” her father whispered, bubbling billowing out of his mouth, yet the words perfectly clear. “I wish you’d come back to us.”

“You’re dead,” Jack cried, more to herself than to him. “You died years ago.”

“No,” her dad boomed, his mouth stretching impossibly wide. “I am not dead. I live in you…”

“I am nothing like you,” Jack whispered. “I never will be.”

“Don’t bet on it,” he hissed, and let go of her. Jack sunk down into the depths, watching all light fade away until there was nothing left but her father’s face.

Then she drowned.